EF0 tornado, Payne City to Lanier Hgts, Georgia, March 16, 2026

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating, as surveyed

EF0, preliminary

Date

March 16, 2026

Touchdown

7:58 AM EDT (11:58 UTC)

Lifted

8:05 AM EDT (12:05 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

1.9 miles (3.1 km)

Path width

320 yards (293 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Bibb County

Touchdown point

32.858, -83.678

Lift-off point

32.871, -83.648

Highest wind the damage implies

85 mph

Surveyed by

NWS FFC

Survey last edited

March 19, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

A weak velocity couplet was detected on radar just east of Forsyth Rd /Vineville Ave, north of Payne around 7:58 AM. The storm tracked to the east-northeast and caused damage neighborhoods along Pierce Avenue and in the vicinity of Northwoods Academy between 8:00 AM and 8:03 AM. Uprooted trees and minor damage to siding, carports and gutters suggested a high-end EF-0 tornado with peak wind speeds of 85 mph. Notable damage included several trees on homes and damage to vehicles and an overturned U-Haul truck. Leaf debris and limbs were noted along the tornado track, but at some points damage was limited to snapped tree tops, suggesting the tornado may have briefly lifted several times along the path. The weak velocity couplet was no longer detected on radar once the storm reached the Ocmulgee River just east of I-75 at 8:05 AM, although a tornado debris signature (TDS) remained apparent due to lofted debris.

Written by NWS FFC in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

8 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FFC, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

• Tree down on Riverside Drive
• 5-6 trees snapped, 1 uprooted. Damage to home with siding ripped off from under the roofline. Sign destroyed.
• Sign ripped from Brass Rack building. Gutter/siding damage to building.
• A dozen uprooted or snapped tree tops. One on house. One house damaged, but unknown whether it was from this event alone. Another home with roof shingle damage. Tree down in front of North Woods Academy.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Yet another QLCS moved through portions of north and central Georgia in the early morning hours of the 16th. Pockets of concentrated winds damage were found mostly in north Georgia where the storms held together best. A few more brief tornados were found via surveys, including one just southeast of the metro and two further south to Macon and Pine Mountain.

A weak velocity couplet was detected on radar just east of Forsyth Rd /Vineville Ave, north of Payne around 7:58 AM. The storm tracked to the east-northeast and caused damage neighborhoods along Pierce Avenue and in the vicinity of Northwoods Academy between 8:00 AM and 8:03 AM. Uprooted trees and minor damage to siding, carports |and gutters suggested a high-end EF-0 tornado with peak wind speeds of 85 mph. Notable damage included several trees on homes and damage to vehicles and an overturned U-Haul truck. Leaf debris and limbs were noted along the tornado track, but at some points damage was limited to snapped tree tops, suggesting the tornado may have briefly lifted several times along the path. The weak velocity couplet was no |longer detected on radar once the storm reached the Ocmulgee River just east of I-75 at 8:05 AM, although a tornado debris signature (TDS) remained apparent due to lofted debris.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

6 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 11:52 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 12:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 08:11 UTC and running to 14:00 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 05:26 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Robins AFB radar (KJGX), 36 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:58 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2026 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

10 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.